Airfields being selected to test drones for commercial use

Pictured is one of the Northrop Grumman’s RQ-8A Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) that is part of Fleet Readiness Center East’s readiness and repair repertoire. In this photo it test fires the second of two Mark (MK) 66 2.75-inch unguided rockets during weapons testing at Arizona’s Yuma Proving Grounds.

Contributed photo

By Sue Book, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Thursday, December 26, 2013 at 07:08 PM.

Military drones have been part of Cherry Point’s Fleet Readiness Center East’s test and repair work for more than three years, but a civilian Eastern North Carolina airport may soon be testing unmanned aircraft for commercial use.

The Hyde County Airport in Englehard is competing for selection by the Federal Aviation Administration to be one six civilian airfields for the tests, the Virginian-Pilot reported this week.

The report says it is one of 25 sites in 24 states including North Carolina and Virginia competing to be one of six test fields selected.

Some of the drones expected to be tested are considerably smaller and less sophisticated than the Fire Scout or MQ-8B Vertical Take-off and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which the Navy repair depot began maintaining in April 2010.

The 9.4-foot tall, 3,150-pound Fire Scout is equipped with information gathering systems designed to provide operational commanders with real-time intelligence, reconnaissance, and targeting awareness. And it can fly as high as 20,000 feet at speeds as fast as 143 mph for about 110 nautical miles, then hover unseen as long as five hours.

The drone being tested at the Hyde County Airport was battery-powered Vireo built by UTC Aerospace Systems. It weighed about 3 pounds, has a 3-foot wingspan, and is designed to fly at 250 feet at about 50 feet a second for about an hour with a video camera attached to its frame.

An N.C. State University research and economic development director of the project was quoted as saying that the drones have a promising use in agriculture because they can carry airborne cameras able to detect drought, disease or insect infestation in crops and can do several hundred acres in less than an hour.

Military drones have been part of Cherry Point’s Fleet Readiness Center East’s test and repair work for more than three years, but a civilian Eastern North Carolina airport may soon be testing unmanned aircraft for commercial use.

The Hyde County Airport in Englehard is competing for selection by the Federal Aviation Administration to be one six civilian airfields for the tests, the Virginian-Pilot reported this week.

The report says it is one of 25 sites in 24 states including North Carolina and Virginia competing to be one of six test fields selected.

Some of the drones expected to be tested are considerably smaller and less sophisticated than the Fire Scout or MQ-8B Vertical Take-off and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which the Navy repair depot began maintaining in April 2010.

The 9.4-foot tall, 3,150-pound Fire Scout is equipped with information gathering systems designed to provide operational commanders with real-time intelligence, reconnaissance, and targeting awareness. And it can fly as high as 20,000 feet at speeds as fast as 143 mph for about 110 nautical miles, then hover unseen as long as five hours.

The drone being tested at the Hyde County Airport was battery-powered Vireo built by UTC Aerospace Systems. It weighed about 3 pounds, has a 3-foot wingspan, and is designed to fly at 250 feet at about 50 feet a second for about an hour with a video camera attached to its frame.

An N.C. State University research and economic development director of the project was quoted as saying that the drones have a promising use in agriculture because they can carry airborne cameras able to detect drought, disease or insect infestation in crops and can do several hundred acres in less than an hour.

That is not to say that the vehicle guided from a laptop by the Hyde County Airport operations manager with a N.C. State University graduate student working at the NextGen Air Transportation Center is all that a chosen field will test.

The December revelation by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos that the company is considering using drones for package delivery as soon as five years from now probably got even more traction with this Christmas’ season’s delivery meltdown by traditional carriers.

An FAA report on approving unmanned aircraft systems indicated it has concerns about safety, particularly about drone use in heavily populated areas or areas with congested or sensitive airspace.

A study by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the Pilot reported, said the commercial drone market could create more than 70,000 jobs in the country with a $13.6 billion economic impact in the first three years following its approval with growth potential of up to 100,000 jobs and an $82 billion economic impact by 2025.

The FAA has approved 535 government entities, including Hyde County, to fly drones for a specific use like search and rescue, border patrol, and research.

The FAA is expected to make a decision on the six text sites by the end of the month.

Sue Book can be reached at 252-635-5665 or sue.book@newbernsj.com. Follow her on Twitter@SueJBook.